How to get started with flowscience's "FLOW-3D" ?

[Tcubed]

I got a program called Flow-3D and i'm able to import into it a stereolithographic file of my design fom Rhino.

That's about as far as i'm getting, as it is all very unfamiliar to me.

I studied Mathematics and Fluid Dynamics but have little experience using CFD software. All i want to be able to do right now is simulate free surface, hydrostatically varying pressure with deep water.

In a word; figure out the drag for my various designs.

Maybe some one familiar with the program can help me input correctly so i can get started, usually these things get easier to learn once the program basics are understood.

Thanks.

[Ad Hoc]

If you are unfamiliar then you need to "understand" the limitations of the program.
Firstly, model a simple shape, a pipe for example. There are encyclopedias of data on pipe flow. Find one. Then model it in your program. Compare the results. They wont be the same..but how much difference a small amount or a large amount?

Then progress into cylinders. Again check the results against well known and established formulae/experimentation. Again see where the errors are.

Then model a foil. Again check against the voluminous known data. If the program cannot get any of these correct, especially the foil data, then do not use it, period.

If all is going well....get a model of a hull that you have the hull shape electronically and also tank test results. Then again, as above input and compare.

Then try the same but with various different hull forms, such as monohulls and then multihulls. And all at various speeds, again with known tank test data.

If you have the patience to try all the above, then may be it is a tool that you may wish to use. If you do not have the patience for this, then it is the wrong tool for you.

BUT, even if you have the patience to try all this, the results of the above may well lead you to conclude it is not worth using....

[Tcubed]

Thanks, i have not tried from the very simplest forms, and to check the accuracy of the program it certainly would be an appropriate methodology.

However , my concern is , for the time being, not so much the accuracy of the software so much as how to use it.

You see, if i can input a hull i can input a pipe etc. My problem is how to correctly input all the other parameters. The software has the capacity to evaluate a vast number of variables which makes me think that for what i want it is very much more than necessary , however it makes it complex for getting familiar with the input procedures.

[Ad Hoc]

Sounds like you need to read the manual then. If you don't have one, buy one. At the same time, just "play" with it....click commands, see what happens and read the "on-line" help function that usually is included with the programs.
With out knowing the background for the commands/elements/analysis etc, via the manual, you wont know what you're doing, nor if the results are meaningful or not. Hence, a copy of the manual is your priority.

[Tcubed]

Ok ok you've cornered me .

I am basically short on time and the manual is .. i was just about to post a link to it but it no longer works for me, but looking for it i just found a forum on the subject which may actually end up being more helpful than the manual i had found http://www.cfd-online.com/Forum/flow3d.cgi

I guess i was hoping for someone who has used the program to say you must fill in this , this and this, or it won't run.

[Ad Hoc]

Well
"...I guess i was hoping for someone who has used the program to say you must fill in this , this and this, or it won't run..."

Is somewhat different to:
"..figure out the drag for my various designs.."

I can only respond to what you have written, not what you would like to have written.

If time is running out....go on a training course...or ask someone else to do the work..or give up. Time only allows for so much that can be done.

[Tcubed]

By the way here is another link to one of the software's webpages ; http://www.flow3d.com/resources/news...ring08_03.html

It gives the impression that it will do what i need laughing although possibly my computer will crash when i hit 'run simulation' .

[Tcubed]

No there's no question of time running out (well apart from our inevitable rush towards death) ..

I want the software to quantify resistance for some designs and am trying some quick tricks to steepen the learning curve in between all my other commitments , that's all.